Revolutionary Masculinities in the IRA, 1916-1923 Rebecca Mytton
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Revolutionary Masculinities in the IRA, 1916-1923 Rebecca Mytton A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy The University of Sheffield Faculty of Arts and Humanities Department of History January 2020 1 Abstract This thesis examines manly ideals and the experience of masculinity amongst members of the revolutionary Irish Republican Army from the Easter Rising of 1916 to the end of the Irish Civil War in 1923. Whilst the political convictions of these men and the detail of events they participated in have been researched widely, they have not been considered as gendered beings or as inhabitants of sexed bodies. The consistent ideal of martial manliness in the Irish Republican Army has been noted but insufficiently explored by historians, whilst the way that this ideal shaped individual men’s subjectivities, behaviours and experiences has been almost entirely overlooked. This thesis therefore constitutes the first attempt to examine the revolutionary experiences of the Volunteers as men. It firstly explores the consistent norms and ideals of martial manliness which were disseminated across Irish republican discourses, and then considers how those norms and ideals shaped the young revolutionaries’ conceptions, performances and depictions of their masculinity. Specifically, it examines the public presentation of manliness, the regulation and management of emotion, and the experience of brotherhood and male friendship. To do so, the thesis draws primarily on the ego documents – the letters, diaries, memoirs, and other retrospective accounts – of actively engaged Volunteers. These sources are read alongside contemporary public sources in order to ascertain how the pressure to live up to a particular model of military masculinity manifested in the actions, appearances and recollections of IRA soldiers. 2 Acknowledgements First and foremost, I would like to thank my supervisors Dr Caoimhe Nic Dháibhéid and Professor Mary Vincent for their consistent support and guidance throughout this project. Thanks also to my funders the White Rose College of Arts and Humanities (WRoCAH) for enabling me to undertake this research and to make the most of many fulfilling opportunities, especially my placement at the British Library. The sense of community amongst PhD students in the Department of History has been consistently heartening, and particular thanks go to my friends on the second floor who created such a supportive and enjoyable working environment. To my friends in Sheffield, Oxford and London, thank you for the encouragement and the sometimes much-needed distraction. I am forever grateful to my parents, Carol and Tony, for their unwavering support. Finally, thank you to Sam for the love, understanding and laughter, and for always having faith in me. This work was supported by the Arts & Humanities Research Council (grant number AH/L503848/1) through the White Rose College of the Arts & Humanities. 3 Contents Abstract ............................................................................................................................. 1 Acknowledgements ...................................................................................................... 2 Contents ............................................................................................................................. 3 List of Abbreviations .................................................................................................... 4 List of Figures .................................................................................................................. 4 Introduction ..................................................................................................................... 5 Chapter One: The Ideals of Irish Republican Martial Manliness ............ 36 Chapter Two: Producing Military Masculinity on the Public Stage ...... 95 Chapter Three: Emotional Regulation, Management and Control ..... 150 Chapter Four: Emotional Experience and Expression ............................ 193 Chapter Five: Brotherhood and the Making and Breaking of Volunteer Relationships ............................................................................................................. 235 Conclusion .................................................................................................................. 290 Bibliography .............................................................................................................. 300 4 List of Abbreviations BMH WS - Bureau of Military History Witness Statement GAA - Gaelic Athletic Association IPP - Irish Parliamentary Party IRA - Irish Republican Army IRB - Irish Republican Brotherhood NLI - National Library of Ireland RIC - Royal Irish Constabulary UCDA - University College Dublin Archives List of Figures Figure 1: NLI NPA GPO2, Rebels inside the GPO during the Easter Rising (1916). .............................................................................................................. 52 Figure 2: NLI NPA POLF236, Portrait of Patrick Pearse (undated). ..... 99 Figure 3: NLI NPA POLF1, Portrait of Thomas Ashe (undated). ......... 103 Figure 4: NLI TC 33, Tom Clarke (middle) and Seán MacDiarmada (right) with John Daly (1915). ........................................................................... 104 Figure 5: NLI NPA DOCE5, 'A Flying Column' (undated). ...................... 109 Figure 6: NLI NPA POLF191, Body of Terence MacSwiney (1920). .. 120 Figure 7: NLI NPA POLF4, Funeral of Thomas Ashe (Glasnevin, 1917). ......................................................................................................................................... 145 Figure 8: NLI NPA LOB1, Internees at Frongoch Internment Camp (1916). .......................................................................................................................... 269 5 Introduction The Irish revolutionary period, from the Easter Rising of 1916 to the end of the Civil War in 1923, was dominated by republican gunmen. The political convictions of these men and the detail of events they participated in have been researched widely, but they have not been considered as gendered beings or as inhabitants of sexed bodies. The consistent ideal of martial manliness in the Irish Republican Army has been noted but insufficiently explored by historians, whilst the way that this ideal shaped individual men’s subjectivities, behaviours and experiences has been almost entirely overlooked. This thesis examines the revolutionary lives of Irish Volunteers and their experiences as men. It will consider how the norms and ideals of Irish martial manliness – as expressed in the discourses of Irish republicanism – helped to determine how these men conceived of, performed and then depicted their soldierly roles. The thesis will thus focus on the public presentation of manliness, the regulation and management of emotions, and the experience of brotherhood and male friendship. The making of the IRA In November 1913, the Irish Volunteers were publicly launched in Dublin with the expressed aim to ‘make an honest and manly stand’ to ‘secure and maintain the rights and liberties common to all the people of Ireland’.1 The movement’s leaders called on 1 Manifesto of the Irish Volunteers (25 November 1913), p.3 [available at: http://source.southdublinlibraries.ie/bitstream/10599/9706/3/wm_DSC_0480.jpg]; The Irish Volunteers were created in response to the formation of the Ulster Volunteers ten months earlier. The Ulster Volunteers were created with the intention to block Home Rule in Ireland which looked set to pass through parliament. On 1 November 1913, Eoin MacNeill, a Professor of History at University College Dublin, wrote an article in the Gaelic League journal An Claidheamh Soluis entitled ‘The North Began’ [available at: http://historyhub.ie/assets/The-North-Began.pdf]. MacNeill claimed that the armament of any Irishmen – including Ulster Unionists whose politics were diametrically opposed to his nationalism – was good for the nation. He advocated for nationalist Irishmen to set up their own militarised organisation in support of Irish self-government. MacNeill became the Chief-of-Staff of the Volunteers, having launched the organisation alongside Chairman of the Dublin IRB Bulmer Hobson and member of 6 Irishmen to join up ‘in the name of National Unity, of National Dignity, of National and Individual Liberty [and] of Manly Citizenship’.2 The driving force behind the movement was the secret revolutionary organisation the Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB) but the majority of those who joined up supported the constitutionally nationalist Irish Parliamentary Party (IPP) who campaigned for Home Rule.3 In June 1914, when the Volunteers had grown to a force of almost 200,000, IPP leader John Redmond negotiated control of the organisation by threatening to start a rival group if 25 of his nominees were not accepted onto the Provisional Committee.4 When Redmond began encouraging Volunteers to join the ranks of the British Army in the First World War three months later, the membership split as the majority who followed the IPP became the ‘The National Volunteers’ whilst a minority of 11,000 recruits kept the original Irish Volunteer title and opposed any involvement in the conflict.5 As the National Volunteers membership dissipated, the Irish Volunteers held strong and their members went on to take part in the Easter Rising of 1916, where this thesis begins. It covers an eight year